The View from The Shard: tackling Europe's tallest building with a fear of heights

Despite being scared of heights, intrepid reporter Alastair Good ascends to
the new viewing platform on the 72nd floor of the Shard building in London,
wearing a heart monitor to record the resulting impact on his pulse.

That was how I found myself climbing the last set of stairs to the open air of floor 72 as the heart rate monitor beeped furiously trying to measure my racing pulse.

Between 60 and 100 was normal, said the instructions on the heart monitor I'd bought the day before, now before I even made it to the glass wall that surrounds floor 72, it was reading 175 and rising.

I felt the familiar tingling at the back of my knees and my breathes got shorter and shallower as I approached the 8ft glass walls which lead up to open sky and even through the rain clouds I could see St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge a little too clearly for my liking.

The viewing areas can accommodate up to 400 people but organisers anticipate there will be about 250 visitors at any one time. From entering at ground level visitors will take one lift to floor 33 where they then change to a second elevator that goes up to level 68 with the triple-height level 69 providing the main viewing space.

Tickets (now available via the View from the Shard website) cost £24.95 if booked online in advance, or £29.95 if bought on the day, subject to availability. (Children will pay £18.95 in advance or £22.95 on the day.) Visitors will be have to book a specific time slot for their visit but can linger for as long as they wish.

I lingered for about 20 minutes and by then my heart monitor settled down to around 140 only rising again if I got close to the edge or looked down.

For my fellow acrophobia sufferers I'd say go ahead and give it a try, I had a more stressful experience on the London Eye last summer, and the enclosed nature of the space dispelled the worst of my 'help me I'm falling' sensations.

At nearly ninety pounds for a family of four though, you may decide it's the price which is too steep.

Tickets are pre-booked, timed and dated, providing a queue and crowd free experience with no time limit in the attraction.

The View will be open from 09.00am to 22.00pm daily to enable guests to experience the city by day or night.